Did you ever stage toy soldier battles with your friends on the living room floor when you were a kid? Well, French-Canadian artist Jean-Pierre Séguin would have beat you every time. His latest work is akin to a toy soldier war — for art’s sake.
Put simply, Séguin has been painting iconic images from World War II with toy soldiers. No, the toy soldiers aren’t doing the painting. Rather, they’re glued to a wooden board and hand-painted as pixels that make up a larger image. It’s crazy.
The technique is not unlike that used by Chuck Close to make giant portraits out of tiny pieces of colour, except Séguin uses physical objects instead of just paint. It’s also worth pointing out that Séguin uses a computer to help him do the pixelation process more quickly.
The effect is pretty awesome in picture form, but just imagine seeing these in a gallery where the toy soldiers are suspended on the wall like an army waiting for battle, then stepping back to see a bigger picture revealed in the fray. If you think that’s impressive, you should see what this guy can do with coloured beads.
Séguin’s latest work will be on display March 8 through April 19 at the OK Harris Gallery in New York City. [Fubiz]
General Eisenhower, 2012-2013
BT-13 Valiant, 2013
BT-13 Valiant (detail)
Volunteer Nurse, 2013
Volunteer Nurse (detail)
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, 2013
Curtiss P-40 Warhawk (detail)
Homeland, 2012-2013
Homeland (detail)
All images via Jean-Paul Séguin